Climate expert to talk about importance of forest resources

October 14, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A federal official working toward energy independence and maintaining air, water and soil quality amid climate change will be the featured speaker at an annual gathering of public land and water managers from around the Southeast.

Franklin Boteler, assistant director of the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate and Environment, will deliver the John Gray Distinguished Lecture at the 41st symposium for the Florida Division of the Society of American Foresters, hosted by UF’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation.

He will speak at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 8, on “Forest Resources: Constant Values in a Sea of Change.” The lecture is open to the public. The lecture, at the Paramount Plaza Hotel in Gainesville, brings together experts in public and private forests and aquatic and natural resources from around the Southeast.

The IBCE is part of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. It works to protect natural resources including air, water and soil to advance sustainable forest, range and agricultural production. The agency awards $300 million each year in research, education and extension grants.

Before joining IBCE, Boteler held posts with the North Carolina, Idaho and Washington state park systems. In Washington and Idaho, he was the parks’ chief operating officer.

He began his career as a tenured associate professor in the West Virginia University Division of Forestry, conducting research and teaching in forest resources management. His research involved setting the original carrying capacity and safety regulations for whitewater use of the Cheat, New and Gauley Rivers.

Boteler is an avid skier, mountain climber and cyclist.

The lecture series began in 1994 to honor Gray, director of the UF forest resources school from 1964 until 1977.

For more information on the symposium, visit www.flsaf.org.

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